Tesla Share Price, Coinbase, Merck: What to Watch When the Stock Market Opens Today

U.S. stock futures wavered, pointing to a pause in the rally that pushed major indexes to record highs for the umpteenth time this year last week. Here’s what we’re watching before Monday’s trading session gets underway.

  • Tesla shares fell more than 5% ahead of the bell in heavy trading. Twitter users directed Chief Executive Elon Musk to sell a 10th of his stock—valued at around $21 billion Friday—in an online poll.
  • Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global rose 4.8% as bitcoin rallied 4.9% to $65,955.68. The cryptocurrency fell for three straight days through Friday.
  • The selling pressure on Merck continued, pushing the pharmaceutical stock down more than 2% premarket. Merck skidded on Friday after Pfizer said preliminary data showed its Covid-19 pill was effective in preventing severe illness. Merck’s own coronavirus pill was cleared for use in the U.K. last week.
  • Steel Dynamics rose 4.5% after S&P Global Ratings lifted its outlook for the Indiana-based producer to positive from stable. “We are as bullish for the fourth quarter and going into next year as we ever have been,” said Steel Dynamics CEO Mark Millett said last month.
  • Caterpillar shares gained 3.6%. Analysts at Credit Suisse Group, UBS Group and Morgan Stanley raised their price targets for the maker of industrial equipment after its quarterly profit more than doubled.
  • Plug Power , shares of which are often volatile, rose 3.4%. The developer of hydrogen-fuel systems remains well below its high from early 2021 despite rallying 50% so far in the fourth quarter.
  • Hasbro rose 4%. The toy maker, which is searching for a new chief executive after the death of Brian Goldner, topped forecasts for quarterly earnings when it filed results in late October.
  • Ulta Beauty , whose price target was cut by several analysts last month, fell 2.3%.

Write to Joe Wallace at joe.wallace@wsj.com